Car brake or stop



. c. LIDDICOAT. CAR BRAKE OR- STOP. APPLICATIO N FILED FEB- II' 1920.

Patented Dec.13,1921.

vii

In van 7021 L [Zr/23 Aidaznmf Amy UNITED STATES.

CAB BRAKE on snori- To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I,CALEB L nnrooA'r, a citizen of the United States, residin at Albia, inthe county of Monroe and btate of Iowa, have invented certain new: anduseful Improvements in Car Brakes or Stops, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

. This invention relates to car stops or car spraggers as they are knownin mining parlance, and the general object'of theiinvention is theprovision of a device of this character adapted to engage and hold oneor more cars, or for the purpose of slowing up moving cars in mines andon tramways. A further object is-to provide a devlce of this characterwhlch may be .operated'wlth 1 perfect safety to the operator, andinwhich the actuating mechanism may be located any desireddistance fromthe stop or brake.

And another object is to provide a device of this character embodying alongitudinally extending rail upon which the fear-wheels run and alongitudinally extending braking rail disposed overthe first named railand having linked engagement therewith,'weight operated means forurgingthe braking rail away from the first named rail, and manuallyoperable means for shifting the braking rail toward the lirst'namedrail.

A further object is to provide a construction of this character in whichthe braking rail is urged away from the supporting rail by a weightoperated lever having an eccentric at one end disposed to engage anelongated link or lever mounted on the braking rail, the weight beingadjustable to any desired extent and normally urging the rails,

apart.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.- fMy invention is illustrated in the accom: panying drawings, whereinFigure 1 s a side elevation of spragger or car braking mechanismconstructed in. accordance with my invention;

2 is a section on the line Fig. 1 i

Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevation of aportion of the braking mechanism,the brake actuatin link being partly broken away. J

lleferring to these drawings it will be seen that my improved brakingdevice comprises stringers 10 which are laid upon the usual transverseties 11, these stringers sup a.pulley ,30 at its upperpend, over whichATENT CALEB VLVIDDICOAT, or An a A, IOWA.

I porting'th e'rails 12, which are preferably angular, in cross section,as illustrated in Fig.2, to provide any outside, upwardly ex tendingflange. The opposite rail 13 is of? ordinary or usual form, and theupper faceof "the angular jrailf12 isdisposed in- Specification ofLetters Patent. l atented' Deo. 13,1921Q Application filed February11,1920; Serial No. 357,801.:

line; with the upper. face ofgthe rail 1 i 13. Disposed above .therail12 in parallel 'relation thereto vis a braking .rail {14,

which is angular in cross section, and pro;

vided on its inner face with a shoe ofj-fricj I I tion mater al '15,.'Which may be of wood,

leather, or any. othersuitable materiall have": 3

ing a frictional, surface adapted to engage" the wheels' A of the car orcars B. :Each of these, rails .12 and14 is provided-with out-f wardlyextending pivot studs 16, perf0rated I at their extremities for-thepassage of. cotter pins. Gonnecting the rail 14 to the-railj12 at-aplurality ofpoints and engaging these pivot studs 16 are a plurality oflinks '17 which are, ofcourse, parallel to each other. The braking rail14 is-extendedat one end beyond the rail 12, as shown in Fig. 1, and

pivotally connected to these two rails is an: elongated controlling link18 which isalso 1 disposed in parallel relation to the'links-17;

The upper end of this link is laterally-.de

flected, as at .19, then upwardly extending and'has a longitudinallyextending groove":

20 formed on its inside'fac e;

carries a roller or loose sleeve on it. Extending upward at one side ofthe trac is a post; ,22 which is longitudinally slotted,

asat 23, for the passage of'theelongated. link or arm 18, and pivoted tothis post is Y alever 24', the upper, endbeyondthe pivoti being formedas aloop 25.. The upper por-.. tion; of this loopis circular and thecurva- Acrossithis groove isdi'sposed a pin 21 which preferabl tnre ofthis uPP r. portion is eccentric to the; pivot 26 of the lever. Thisloop is disposed.

bet-ween thepin 21 and the bottom of the groove 20, asshownj most:clearly in" Fig.-3. Mounted upon the lever and slidable there-i alongisa weight 27jWhlCl'l is held inplace by set screws28. Alsoextending-upwardly atthe side of the track is apost 29. carrying passesanoperating cable 31, the lower end of which is attached to theextremityof the lever 24. This operating cable extends over one orimore pulleys30 mounted onposts'29, and then extends to-.;an.arm 31 operativelyhaving a bolt 34% engageable. with this rack and operated by a hand grip3 5.

It will be obvious now that when it is desired tobrake or slow down acar coming in the direction of the arrows in Fig. 1 or hold tion' isvery strong. Thus it will be obvious that the braking rail may beshifted to a very slight amount if desired and thus cause either agentle brakin actionon the car, or a relatively strong bra (ing actionwhich will either restrain the car'from rapid movement I or hold the carfrom any movement at all.

'It is obvious also that the controlling lever 32 might be disposed atany convenient point, either beside the track or considerably to onesideof the track, and that the actuating cable may be run over suitablepulleys or guides to the controlling'lever without regard to theposition of the controlling lever withreference to the track.

In F ig. 1,.I have illustrated twojsets of upper and lower rails 12 and141-, 'both of these sets'ofrails being constructed like each other, butone set of controlling rails being.

. connected to the other set of controlling rails by means of alongitudinally extending sectional rod 36, the sections of the rodbeingconnected by means of a turn buckle 37 and the ends of the rodbeing pivoted to adjacentstuds 16, It, therefore, is tobe understoodthat there maybe any number of sets of these brakes, all controlled froma single lever 32, and that these braking rails 12 and 14 may be of anydesired length so as to control and brake either one car or a pluralityofcars.

This car braking or stopping mechanism is designed for use in mines andfor surface tramways or any other situation where it is desirable toreduce the speed ofcars or stop them altogether. When the upper brake'islowered toward the lower rail, it is obvious that a very firm grip willbe secured upon the wheels of the car and that by its means runaway carsin mines and outside tramways may be readily caught'and slowed-up. Itwill further be noted that this device will ;prevent runaway cars whichare being slowed up from getting off the track, as there is notendencyfor the cars to pile up on each other because the brake shoe isapplied to all of the wheels of the cars, and further because the brakemay be applied gradually. The angular form of the brake shoe,

of the cars which would derail them I Heretofore' when it has beendesired to hold mining cars from movement, it has been usual to insert astick of wood between the spokes of the wheels. This is very dangerouswhere cars are moving and has caused many accidents and deaths. v

My device is very simple, may be easily applied to 'any mining railwayor tramway,: and has been found thoroughly effective in practice. Itwill be seen that the particular form of lever used by me having theeccentric loop 25 exerts a great force upon the actuating arm 18, bothto lift the braking rail or to depress it under the action of the cable;31. As soon as the lever 32 is released,=the counterweight'will causethe lever 24; to return to the position shown in Fig. 3-and thuslift thebrake'shoe from the wheels. 1

I claim V 1. Abraking device of the character described comprising alower supporting rail,

an upper braking rail, links pivotally conf ing the braking rail'awayfrom the supporting rail, and manually operable means for shifting thebraking rail toward thesupporting rail and including an actuating armpivotally connected to the supporting rail and the braking rail, andextending upward beyond the braking rail, a lever operatively connectedto the upper end of said arm, a manually actuatable device, andconnections leading from said last named leverto the actuating devicewhereby the lever may be shifted to cause the braking rail to movetoward the supporting rail. 2

2. A braking mechanism of described comprising a su oporting rail andbraking rail, links pivotally connecting the braking rail to thesupporting rail,'one of said links being extended to form an 'actuatingarm, a support, a lever pivoted in-the support and operativelyconnected-to-the upper end of said actuating arm, a counterweight onsaid lever and urging the lever and arm to shift the rails apart andmanually operated means forv shifting the lever to shift said railstoward'each other.

3. A braking mechanism of the character described comprising asupporting rail and braking rail, links pivotally connecting the.braking rail to the'supporting rail, one of said links being extendedto form an actuat ing arm, a support, a lever pivoted in the support andoperatively' connected to; the

the character means'for shifting the lever to shift said rails towardeach other and including acable extending from the counterweighted leadjustable to various positions.

4:. A braking mechanismof the character described comprising asupporting rail and a braking rail, links pivotally connecting thebraking rail to the supporting rail, an

actuating arm pivotally connected to the supporting rail and the brakingrail, a lever hav ng an eccentrlc member operatively engaging one end ofthe actuating arm where- I by the movement of the lever in one directionacts to depress one end of the actuating arm and in the other directionacts to raise the actuating arm, and manually operable means forshifting said lever.

5. A braking device of the character described comprising a supportingrail, angular in cross section, a braking rail disposed in approximatelyparallel relation to the first named rail and angular in cross section,links pivotally connecting the rails and-permitting the braking rail tomove toward and from the supporting rail, one of said links beingelongated to form an actuating arm, a pivotally supported lever havingone end operatively engaging the actuating arm and its other endcounterweighted whereby to cause arm and the lifting of the brakingrail, manually operable means operatively connected to the free end ofthe lever to shift the lever against the actionof the counterweight anddepress the braking rail, said means including a lever operating over arack, means for holding the leverin adjusted positions, and between thelever and the free end ofthe counterweighted lever.

6. A braking mechanism of the character described including a supportingrail, a

braking rail disposed above the supporting rail, links pivotallyconnectingthe two rails, one of said links being extended to form anactuating arm and being longitudinally recessed at its upper end, apivotally supa ported lever having an eccentric loop at one end engagingin sa1drecess, the opposite end of said lever being counterweighted, apin extending through the walls of said groove and extending through theloop of the eccenally actuatable the lifting of the, actuating v aflexible connection tric lever, and manually 'actuatable means .forraising the counterweighted endof the lever aganist the force of thecounterweight to thereby cause the movement ofthe braking rail towardthe supporting rail;

71A braking mechanism of the character described comprising a supportingrail, angular in cross section, a braking rail disposed in alinementabove the supporting rail, and also angular in cross section,---thelateral flanges of said railsextendingtojecting pivot studs, rails andpivoted to the studs, one of said ward each other and having outwardlyprolinks connecting the links being upwardly extended and formed with arecess at its upper end, a post through which said extended link passes.and by which it is guided, a pin extending across said recess, a leverpivotally mounted upon the post and having an'eccentric loop throughwhich said pin'passes, said loop having =.a uniformly curved, outerportion and having'athickness equal to the distance between the pin andthe bottom of the recess, an adjustable counterweight mounted,

upon the opposite end of the lever, a manulever, a rack whereby it maybe held in adjusted positions, and a flexible connection extending from1 said manually actuatable lever to the free end of the 001m terweightedlever.

8. In a mechanism of the character described, a track including a pairof rails,'one

of said rails including a supporting rail angular 1n cross section toprovide an up wardly extending flange and an inwardly extending flangedirected toward the opposite rail, abraking rail disposed in 'aline mentabove the-supporting rail and also an gular 1n cross section to providea down- .wardly extending flange, and a flange extending toward theopposite rail, the vertical flanges or said rails having outwardly,

projecting pivot studs, links connecting the rails, and pivoted to thestuds, means for urging said rails away from each other, and

manually operable means for shifting therails toward each other.. Intestimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature. CALEB LIDDIQOAT.

